Statistics can be a funny thing. Elk hunters took 20 fewer elk in Arkansas during 2019 but that bottom line number portrays only part of the picture.
“This year was more in line with historic harvest numbers,” Wes Wright, Arkansas Game and Fish large carnivore coordinator, told arkansasonline.com.
Wright said the numbers are deceptive because more permits were available in 2018 to hunt elk on private land compared to 2019. He added that 63 percent of hunters on public land killed an elk in 2019. That number, too, is in line with historic elk harvest rates.
Of the 47 elk tested, only one returned positive for chronic wasting disease.
(Photo source: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission)